So we're going to be looking at verses 28 to 30 this morning with our focus on verse 29. And also we're going to be in John chapter 3 for quite a little bit. So kind of hold that there for a reference point. Bet you didn't know that these two went together. They're in the same book. apparently they go together uh... but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified." Now, as we have seen clearly, there is a description given here. of a Christian. Christians are those who love God, and Christians are those who are the called. And it is for Christians that God works all things together for good according to His purpose. His purpose being, as we have already established, to manifest His own glorious grace and mercy. And so this morning we continue with Paul's description, as it were, of those to whom God's purpose applies. Now, we said that they are the called according to His purpose, and these same people are now described as the foreknown, those whom He foreknew, the predestined, the justified, and the glorified. So, we have four more descriptors. uh... the principle here being that the purpose of god in salvation applies only to these people and not to any others regardless of uh... universalism being the fastest growing lapsarian view as we noted in our first lesson there is nothing in scripture anywhere to suggest anything remotely akin to universalism uh... that being that at the very end every human being to ever live will be saved that because god is love everyone is going to be given some form of second chance after death at which point they will see their previous mistake and will then believe and accept salvation these are the same people who believe that the sole purpose of preaching is to tell people that God loves them whether they believe in him or not. We all know that that is a rampant happening nowadays. This is a most popular teaching and as we said has been growing exponentially over the past few years. Many find comfort in it because it allows them to live as they please and to do as they please. It is in fact a most heinous form of idolatry. Instead of God is love, love becomes God. Love being based on human definition and not God's definition. This idolatry is the root of the judge not generation and the apostasy or falling away of church member after church member and pastor after pastor and denomination after denomination. We all see it every day, okay? who by the way proved by their apostasy that they are not lovers of God and that they were never the called according to his purpose. Simple truth is that in the entirety of the Bible the whole of the human race is divided into those who are people of God and those who are not. There is an uncrossable division always between the saved and the lost the most famous verse other than judge not in the bible and also one of the most misinterpreted that's where we're going to go to john chapter three okay and starting with verse sixteen that is the most famous that everybody thinks that everybody knows this route worked at a place several years ago and had some guys from New York that were working there and they had come out of a drug rehabilitation program and lived in New York their entire life and I actually had a tag on the front of my truck that said John 316. Neither of them knew what that was. They had no idea. There was no reference point for them. not everybody knows that but it is what the most famous other than the judge not everybody everybody knows the judge not john chapter three starting with verse sixteen uh... for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." Now, it doesn't get much more divisive than that. Those who believe in him are not condemned. But those who do not believe are what? Condemned already, okay? And John doesn't stop there. Again, we have a description of a Christian. What does it look like to believe? It's not just a profession, it is followed by actions. Actions that are as a style of life, he says, carried out in God. He doesn't say what the actions are, he just says actions that are what? Carried out in God. Okay, so we're going to expound on that a little bit later. Jesus did not come to the world to condemn the world. it was condemned already. Okay? The world was condemned from its very foundation. The world's condemnation was part and parcel to the purpose of God, and all of mankind was condemned right along with it, from the foundation of the world. Out of that condemnation, only a few were effectually called according to the purpose of God. Over and over again, Jesus refers to those elect, to those called. He refers to them as my sheep. He refers to them as those who know my voice, those whom the Father has given me. It is very obvious that there are a few that belong to God and a vast majority that belong to the evil one. No hint there of universalism. It is the teaching of the entire Bible that God's purpose of salvation is confined to a certain group of people known as the cult. Now, we can, as we said, know who has already responded to the call. We can see that because those people are peculiar to the rest of the world. So, but we do not know who has yet to respond, which is why our commission is to preach the gospel to what? all the nations we don't know who in all of the nations has been called so we preach the gospel to all the nations what we do know is that there is a very definite number of the call paul refers it to as as it the uh... fullness of the gentiles when we get into chapter eleven about twenty twenty seven uh... now we don't know the exact number but god knows he predestined that number He called that number, justified that number, and glorified that number before the foundation of the world. And then once that number has been fulfilled, He says that all Israel will be saved. Now, we're going to cross that bridge when we come to it. But what I can guarantee you this morning is that all Israel is not a reference to the physical, geographical nation of Israel as so many would have you believe, okay? Regardless of what you believe about who it refers to, there is a very definite number and that number is limited. 2 Timothy 2.19, he says, but God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal, says the Lord knows those who are His. and let everyone who names the name of the lord depart from an equity so god knows his people always has known his people uh... has always known the exact number of his people uh... seems like every day we hear or see of someone falling away that we thought was infallible famous preachers are unfortunately seems like a dropping like flies over the past couple years might come as a surprise to us. Some of them came as a big surprise to me. Guess who wasn't surprised? God was not surprised, okay? He knew that they were never His. Now, some of them backslid. Some of them were repentant. Some of them are making their way back. Some of them are just gone. I mean, just completely gone. So why did they fall? John says that they went out from us because what? They were not of us. They never were. They appeared to be, but they were not. You can make a profession, you can be a member of the visible church, but that does not mean that you are necessarily one of God's own people. Jesus plainly tells us time and again that there are far more lost people in the visible church than saved people. The people of God consist only of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose. Their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Again, the division. Revelation tells us that all whose name was not found, written in that book, were cast into the lake of fire. There is no universalism. So the promises that we are reading are pertinent only to those who fit the description given to us here. What then is God's purpose for these people? It is this and only this. Again, the judge not passage. This is not judgment, this is fruit inspection. This is the final descriptive, as it were. God's purpose is that we who love God and are called according to His purpose. Verse 29 says, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to do what? Be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. God's purpose is that we, you and I, be conformed to the image of His Son. For our sakes, yes, but more so for the sake of Christ that He might receive the reward of His suffering. Yes, this was foreknown and predestined, which we'll get to momentarily. But ultimately, the most important thought here is the purpose. Paul is defining the purpose in order to prove beyond doubt that it is absolutely certain. In other words, once you know what God's purpose is with respect to you, you can't help but see that he has to carry it out. He has no choice but to carry that purpose out. The very nature of the end means that it has to be brought to completion. Now, the purpose is not forgiveness only. Therein lies the problem. The vast majority believe that forgiveness to be the purpose and believe themselves to have received that when in fact they are still in their sins and still living the same as they were from the very beginning. There has been no change. There has been no confirmation. Still, just a whirlwind. But for the moment, a whirlwind that might attend church occasionally or maybe doesn't even bother with that. Yes, there is forgiveness. Thank God for forgiveness. But that is the first step only. Salvation is so much more than just forgiveness. Salvation does not stop at justification, which as we studied in depth, however many years ago we were there, means a declaration that we are righteous in the sight of God. Forgiveness and justification guarantee that something further is going to be done to us. It is this something further that gives us our final assurance with regard to the certainty of salvation's blessings. This final blessing for everyone, everyone, everyone, Who is a Christian? Is that we are conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. That is the promise. Promise to who? Those who love God and are called according to His purpose. All of them. There is no such thing as some just get forgiveness and then continue to live as they always did, while a select few, the special forces as it were, uh... get conformed to the image of god's own their son doesn't work that way god said i will take out your heart of stone and i will replace it with a heart of flesh there are no marks in that statement there are no maybes in that statement there are no possibilities in that statement he says what i will it's going to happen and if he did not then you probably are okay this is the message to these roman christians if you are the call then you are being conformed to the image of christ it is simple as that but there is a double purpose you stated here the ultimate purpose is the glory of the sun that he might be the first born of many brothers Here is the, this is the ultimate end and objective of salvation. But thank God, in order to establish the ultimate end, the other purpose must come in as well. So in order to glorify Christ, we get to come along for the ride, as it were. That might be a little overly simplified, but that's, you know, that's basically what it is right there. Alright? That applies to us. God's fundamental purpose of showing forth His own glory, and of glorifying his son has this little side effect for usward in that it includes us in this wonderful promise that we shall be conformed to the image of his son. So what is this image that he speaks of? Paul Washer says that there is a time in a new believer's life, some of you may remember this, that we begin to avoid certain things Not so much because we don't want to do them, it's just we avoid them because we know that God hates those things. God wouldn't like that, okay? And we do certain things because we know that God loves those things. We're just doing them, you know, we're trying to make God happy about it, alright? It's not really who we are yet, we're just doing them because that's the right thing to do. Being conformed to the image of Christ means that We now love the things God loves and we hate the things that God hates. That's what being conformed means. It's not a superficial likeness. It is a new nature. We are made like the Son of God in our very core and that core shines outward for everybody to see. We are conformed to the image of all of our brothers who are also called and who are also being conformed. and we look like our brother jesus christ those who see cross brother should recognize them as being cross brothers if not there is a problem somewhere we who were once easily identifiable as being in adam i remember those days right we're very easily identifiable as being in adam should now be just as easily identifiable as being in christ if not there is a problem somewhere anybody can have a bad day but over the long term day in and day out you know whether the people in your circle uh... your work your church your face book you know without a doubt whether those people are in adam or are in christ it's It becomes pretty obvious. It is the most obvious and easiest thing to determine. Why? Because Jesus says you will know them by their fruit. Those in Adam live for, as scripture says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life. So if that's what people are living for, if that's what they're talking about, if that's what all their Facebook posts are about, if that's what they talk about at work, lust of flesh, lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life. Pretty obvious, right? If they're talking about God, if they're talking about Jesus Christ, it's pretty obvious, right? Those in Adam live for, as Scripture says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life. In other words, they live for self-service and self-gratification and self-promotion. That's what those three things mean. Those in Christ Live for Christ, for the glory of God and His kingdom, for the peace and purity of the church, service to those of like-minded faith. This is what we are being conformed to, and our confirmation is one of the key contributors to the showing forth of God's power and glory. We are examples of what God's power and glory can accomplish. to take a god-hating, wicked, self-serving creature such as we were. Anybody here remember being that? To take that god-hating, wicked, self-serving creature such as we were and conform them to the image of God's own Son. That is ultimate power for which God will receive praise and glory, so that Jesus might be the firstborn of many brethren. Now, to carefully provide a disclaimer here, we are not yet conformed. We are being conformed. Everybody understand the difference there, right? We're not there yet. We are not Christ. We will not be Christ. There is only one begotten Son of God, okay? There will never be another. We are frail, we are weak, we are prone to sin, we are prone to idolatry, prone to failure at any given moment. So what is the teaching? That day after day, as a style of life, are you being conformed to the image of God's Son Or do you still look like Adam? If it's the latter, then there is a problem. This last Adam came into the world in order to found a new humanity. Both fundamentally different and foundationally opposed to the old humanity. He is the firstborn of that new humanity. The beginner of a new race. a race born of a new birth, from the seed of the new nature. See how many times we use new in that? We are partakers of the divine nature placed in Him by the Holy Spirit. As John Calvin says, the Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sinful sons of men might become the sons of God. So what about this second great purpose of God? that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. It is very important that we look at our salvation from this standpoint, else we're going to fall for all the false teachings and the nonsense that's in the contemporary Christian music now and it's all about me and my happiness and my feelings and feelings word, I don't get that. There is a whole lot of danger to be found in thinking of salvation only in terms of ourselves. Remember, the ultimate object is to glorify His Son. The honor and glory of the Trinity is involved in our ultimate and complete salvation. Imagine, if you will, the Son of God leaving the courts of heaven coming to earth, giving his teaching, dying on the cross, being buried and rising again, all this and yet with no visible results. There would be no glory. It would be failure. God doesn't fail. This is the ultimate guarantee of our final salvation. This is the ultimate guarantee that all Christians will be conformed to the image of the sun. The glory of God is involved in this and he will be finally glorified when he and all of his brethren are in a sense put on display for the whole of creation to see. Put on display, all of his brethren. but on display you think he doesn't do that you remember joe have you considered my servant joe at some point after glorification we're going to get there there's no there's no thought in my mind that god's up there saying if you considered my servant nicky i'm i'm not at that point it's coming it is coming for all of creation to see, for God to be glorified, to see what he accomplished with these pitiful, God-hating creatures. Philippians 2, verses 5-11. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, because of all of that, he says, therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Because of what he did, bringing glory to God through obedience and bringing salvation to us who deserve the exact opposite, every knee will bow before him to the glory of God. The purpose of our salvation was and is to bring glory to the Son of God. Paul's argument then is that because that is the ultimate object of salvation, then that salvation, that complete salvation, is safe and certain and sure. It cannot fail. It cannot go wrong. So if you and I are in this purpose, neither can we fail. We are to be glorified with the son. We are to be made like him. And so all that he does to us and in us and through us for our salvation will brilliantly display his honor and his glory. So verse 29 begins with that word for showing us the application of what he worked out and accomplished for those to whom it applies. Says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. Told you we'd get there momentarily. Now what does that mean? This fore emphasizes that none of this is by happenstance. None of this is random. Every step, every part of this great purpose of God has been worked out in detail. There are no contingencies. He saw it all. He knew it all. Why did he know it all and see it all? because He decreed it all. He declared the end from the beginning. He did all of this before the foundation of the world. Therefore, there can be no uncertainty whatsoever. Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to bring glory to His Son. All of it carried out in detail. Five steps to this eternal purpose of God. foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, glorification, and each one absolutely essential. None can be left out or the purpose does not come to fruition. Now the first pair, foreknowledge and predestination, reference what God determined and decided with respect to us. The second pair, justification and glorification, have a more practical reference to what God has done to us. The calling in the middle is what links those two together. The calling is the point in time when God's purpose for us becomes a reality to us. So let's look for a bit at each one of those five steps. It says the first one is for new, those who meet for new, meaning to know beforehand. Now this is not referring or referencing God's omniscience. Yes, he is omniscient, but that is not the meaning here. The actual translation of the word used here should be foreordained. God ordained these before the foundation of the world just as he foreordained that Christ would be the sacrificial lamb. And if you believe as I do that he foreordained everything there was and is from day one. for new is not a mistranslation it still works the new or no signifies a special relationship with god and with christ remember jesus said to those who claimed his name yet we're still lost he says depart from me for i never what knew you okay so that's what that four new means there okay four ordained uh... you okay yeah so for a day to salvation also means for me Charles Williams translated like this I didn't never heard of Charles Williams but I found this okay it's pretty good he says for those on whom God said his heart beforehand he also did predestinate and so and so we see that there is a very little difference between the words for new and predestined which is probably why they are for the most part used together in scripture. For those on whom God set his heart beforehand, he also did predestinate. So first word is for you. If we are lovers of God, if we are the called according to his purpose, it is because he knew us. Knew us in this special and loving and specific way. And not just before we were born, but before the foundation of the world. He knew us and decided and decreed all of these things about us. Every detail of your life that has brought you to where you are was decreed by God. Can there be any greater assurance than that? That God knew us and determined in eternity past that you and I were going to be conformed to the image of his own dear son. Now, the next word is the hardest pill to swallow for most of the world. It was for me for a long time, because being a prideful human being, I couldn't wrap my mind around somebody who had control over me instead of me. OK? It's really hard for prideful people to handle that. That word is predestined. God, having set his heart on his children and having selected them, he now predestinates them, predestines them, The actual definition of the word means to designate before. What is its actual contextual meaning? Well, contained in that word, you might see a hint of a couple of other words, like maybe destiny or destination. Okay? Everybody knows what those words mean. Pre-destination. You get pulled over by the cops and he says, what is your destination? Where are you going in such a hurry? What this means is that God, before the foundation of the world, preset our destiny or our destination. He has marked out not only us, but something of a destination for us, for His particular purpose and objective. He has mapped out a particular destiny for all whom He foreknew. God selected His people from out of the billions or trillions that have how many people has been since six thousand years ago that have walked and lived and breathed on the earth and he has decided that these chosen are to ultimately be brought to a final goal or position or destination if you will that destination being that they are to be conformed to the image of his son And so we move on to the next term, called. We're not going to spend much time here because we looked at this and we looked at verse 28 the last two weeks. Just looking at the order in which it comes in with regards to God's plan and purpose. So what we are told here is that God, because he has foreknown these people and predestined them for that ultimate destiny, he then proceeds to call them in this effectual manner. It is at this moment in time that this great purpose of God becomes actually linked to us and in our particular case. So why here and why now? Why does it come before justification? Well, the answer is that even though all of these things that we have been talking about have been in the mind of God and have already happened in the mind of God before the foundation of the world, God exists outside of time. The end, now get this, the end happened at the beginning. Wrap your mind around that if you can. But for us, for us, for our sake, our justification exists in time. It only becomes actual and operative within time. God's plan and purpose do not necessarily affect us personally, that we are aware of. So God's plan and purpose has an effect on us from the beginning all the way down, but not that we are aware of. Until we are called, we have no awareness of how that has affected us, okay? Until we are called, that's when the promised blessings are applied to us, and those promised blessings The first promise blessing is what? Justification. Now, again, we have been over and over and over justification over the last three years or so. That the just shall live by faith. That is the peculiar gospel message that differentiates it from every other religion. Or should we say that one other religion, because there are really only two religions. there is Christianity and there is everything else that's the two religions okay all those other ones reasoner one what they teach do this and live that's the simplest message I know how to put do this and live Christianity says what done already done we are justified by faith alone So this explains why Paul introduces us to the calling at this point. It has to come in before justification. Before God can justify us, he has to introduce the factor that brings us to faith and belief. And so he introduces this great term, calling. So it might sound something like this. Those whom he predestined, them he also called to believe. Take note once more that it is God who is working out every step here along the way. Look at the three verses that we are looking at this morning. How many times does it say, He did this, He did this, He did this? Now, how many times in those three verses does it say you did something? Not one. Okay? God foreknew. God predestined, God called, God justified, God glorified. There is not one place in there that says you did anything. God worked all things together from day one to get you to where you are today. It is God who calls us to believe. It is God who then gives us that belief, okay? We are not saved because we believe, otherwise it would be our action and thus it would be for our glory. Remember, the first purpose of God is to bring glory to His Son. That is how we know that all of this is true. Remember what we asked last week. We were talking about Jesus and His parable of the banquet. How many people at the first invitation came to the banquet? Nobody. Okay? They all had an excuse. God demands that all men everywhere to repent. How many did? Nobody. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. How many did? Nobody. No one comes, no one has faith, no one repents of their own volition. It's not in us to do so. We're enemies of God. It is God who works all of those in those whom he foreknew, predestined, and called. and he does so in order that his only begotten son would be the firstborn among many brethren. How many? I don't know. But apart from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit working their work in the elect, there would be no brethren. No, not one. Were it not for the power of God in the gospel through the work of the Holy Spirit in this effectual call, no one would ever believe it. No one would ever believe the gospel at all. The natural man is at enmity with God, not just unbelieving, but actually hating God. Now, go back to John chapter 3 with me again. We're going to provide some proof of that. Starting with verse 19. And this is the judgment. So we already have the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light. lest his works should be exposed but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God judge not why not the judgments already been passed we have it right there first sentence in verse 19 this is the judgment God has already passed judgment you don't need to judge. Remember what we said when we began this section. It is okay to judge people as being lost. It's not hard to tell if they're lost. Not hard at all. How do we know? By their fruit. they love the darkness rather than the lot might go to church every time the doors open my teacher preach the word might be an elder or a deacon might just show up occasionally and warm a pew or a chair now they can do all of that and yet they still might love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. That word evil throws off a lot of people. If you say evil, the picture that most people see is devil worship, or child sacrifice, or somebody from that other political party, or something like that. It's the worst of the worst. What is the true definition of evil? Well, fortunately, we have it. It's in verse 21. It tells us the only thing that is not evil. Whoever does what is true, what is truth? Jesus Christ is the only truth. Whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works, the only works that are not evil. are those that have been what? Carried out in God. Anything not done for the glory of God is evil. So, we're going to finish up with that thought. If Christ is in you, then everything that you do is for the glory of God. However insignificant it may seem, You can cook supper, you can mow the yard, you can play with the kids, you can go to work every day and give it the very best that you have. All of that can be done for God's glory if that is who you are thinking about and thankful to while you are doing so. Y'all know me by now. There's nothing on this earth that I love more than my three grandkids. I spend a lot of time with them. And you can believe this or you can not believe it, whatever. But there is not a moment that I spend with them that I am not thinking about how blessed I am that God gave them to me. Not a moment. That goes for all the other things on this list and anything else that you might think of that you are doing. if you are thinking about how blessed and grateful you are to be in that moment and able to do that thing then how could god not be glorified that's the very definition of glorified one person living in gratitude to god give us in Chapter one, he gave us the two things that he considers, no, chapter three, he gave us the two things that he thought were the worst. They knew God, but they refused to do what? Worship Him as God, or to what? Even give Him thanks. One person living in gratitude to God brings glory to God. Flip side, you can't get drunk or get high to the glory of God. You cannot live in sexual immorality to the glory of God. You cannot fight with your spouse to the glory of God. You cannot be a mean and nasty and bitter person to the glory of God. You cannot cause strife and dissension to the glory of God. cannot love the things of the world and thereby neglect the things of God and expect him to receive glory from that. And if your style of life is such that these things, these sort of things define you, then there is a problem. There's a huge problem. It's most likely that you were never effectually called, not yet anyway. might happen today happen tomorrow but it probably hasn't happened yet if that's what defines your life how do we know because god has already passed the judgment all those whose deeds are evil do not love god or his son they hate the lot purpose of god is not just to save us Yes, He saved us. The purpose is to change us, to conform us to the image of His Son, to give us a new life, holy and acceptable to Him. He foreknew us, He predestined us for that conformation, for that change. He called us to come out of the world and come to Him so that He might declare us justified and ultimately bring us into glory with him forever. Now, practically everyone receives the general call, and there are some who even play along for a little while with it. But there is no mistaking those who have received the effectual call. There is no mistaking those who have received the effectual call. The power and purpose and glory of God would never allow that to be so. We're on that next week, Lord willing. Let's pray. Father God, I love you so much. I thank you that you have saved us. I thank you that you have no intentions of leaving us where we were, that you are conforming us to the image of your son. pray that you would help us to surrender to you. Forsake the nonsense of the world and to accept what you have planned for us. Be with us as we go through the remainder of our service this morning. May everything said and done be in gratitude to you and for your glory. Christ's name.